Adherence to a DASH-style diet and cardiovascular disease risk: The 10-year follow-up of the ATTICA study.

BACKGROUND: Recent findings suggest a protective role of the DASH dietary pattern on cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence and mortality.

AIM: In this direction, we aimed at investigating the relationship between adherence to a DASH-style diet and CVD risk in a Greek cohort.

METHODS: This sub-sample from the ATTICA epidemiological study consisted of 669 adults with a complete dietary profile at baseline, adequate to calculate DASH-diet score, and complete 10-year follow-up (2002-2012). Demographic, clinical and lifestyle parameters were thoroughly assessed at baseline and CVD incidence was recorded upon medical records at follow-up. Adherence to the DASH-style diet was assessed by a DASH-style diet score developed for the study (range 9-45).

RESULTS: Mean value (SD) of the DASH-diet score was 27.1 (5.1) (range 13-41). Adherence to a DASH-style diet was associated neither with the 10-year CVD risk nor with baseline clinical parameters. Multiple regression analysis revealed that, after appropriate adjustments, only age (46% increase per 5-life-years) and BMI (9.7% increase per unit of BMI) were associated with 10-year CVD events.

CONCLUSIONS: In this small cohort of a Mediterranean population, a cardioprotective effect of a DASH-style diet was not detected.